What do we mean by guaranteed hours?

Everyone (yes every member of the care team) has a contract with minimum guaranteed hours. What does this mean?

  • You are a proper employee

    You are a proper employee who is entitled to paid holidays and all of the other benefits of proper employment. This is not a “zero hours contract”, when you work for us you have all of the rights and benefits of an employee.

  • Your contracted hours are guaranteed

    You are guaranteed to earn the amount of minimum guaranteed hours that your contract states. So you can plan each month knowing what (as a minimum) you will be getting paid.

  • You can earn more... but never less

    Just to be clear these are the minimum hours that we guarantee you and it doesn’t stop you earning more. On a typical week you will be earning more via the visits you are making during the time you are available for work, and can earn even more by putting up your hand up for extra work during the time you wouldn’t usually be at work.

Why are guaranteed hours and hours worked different?

We want to be clear on the difference between the minimum hours we guarantee you and the actual hours you work.

As you might know, care is all about people. Clients want help at certain times of the day. Most clients want help in the morning/bed time so we have less work during the day on lunch and tea calls.

We can’t guarantee that for your exact availability we will always have exactly the right work at the right time, clients sadly pass away or their needs change. So the more flexible you are with your availability the more hours we can guarantee you (because you can work at different times of day).

That’s why for each contract type you will normally work more hours per week than the minimum we guarantee you.

Why do we ask everyone to work every other weekend?

Why do we ask that everyone gives full availability every other weekend? Well, the people we look after don’t stop needing care just because it’s the weekend. But we want to make sure that everyone who wants it has one weekend off work in every two. That means that weekends tend to be busy as we only have half the team working. You do get 2 days off during the week you work the weekend.

If you want to always have a regular pattern of work with the same 5 days in work and 2 days off each week then you can choose to become a “Weekend Warrior”. You will work every weekend but you can choose which 2 days you have off during the week. This makes for a regular schedule for those that are less bothered about having Saturday/Sunday as days off. Also Weekend Warriors tend to earn more as we pay more at the weekends.

 

What shift patterns do we offer?

We offer 3 different shift patterns where you work every other weekend. We can accommodate different patterns but only if you are prepared to work every weekend, then you can choose to vary your availability during the week.

Early shifts example rota pattern

Early shift pattern

Start time: 7am
End time: 2.30pm (approx)
Daily Breaks: One at around 10.30am for around 1 hour
Minimum guaranteed hours: 20 per week
Actual average hours worked per week: 26.5 (approx)
Average visits per week: 45 (approx)
Gross pay (before tax) per month: £1514

Late shifts example rota pattern

Late shift pattern

Start time: 4pm (approx)
End time: 10pm (approx)
Daily Breaks: One at around 6pm for around 1 hour
Minimum guaranteed hours: 15 per week
Actual average hours worked per week: 24.5 (approx)
Average visits per week: 33 (approx)
Gross pay (before tax) per month: £1357

Full time example rota pattern

Full time shift pattern

Start time: 7am (usually)
End time: 6pm (some days 10pm but you will have a big gap during the day on those days)
Daily Breaks: Three at around 10:30am, 3pm and 6pm for around 1 hour
Minimum guaranteed hours: 30 per week
Actual average hours worked per week: 34 (approx)
Average visits per week: 52 (approx)
Gross pay (before tax) per month: £1937

Want to join our team and progress your career with us? The first step is to complete our online application form